In Love with Studying

I’m passionate about learning, writing and reading. These are incredibly time-consuming hobbies and sometimes I like to complain about that for a while but on the other hand, there are so many topics to choose from and studying can be such a fascinating, exciting and entertaining journey! I’m interested mostly in personal growth, motivation, the improvement of organisational skills, time usage, technology addiction, positive psychology, achieving goals, mindset, attitude, grit, success, well-being, a positive outlook, and productivity. I like a lot of other things too, e. g. foreign languages. No, wait, that’s studying as well! Okay, I guess to “other things” I could add enjoying meeting interesting people, adventures, spending time with family and friends, martial arts, snowboarding (not enough practice but that doesn’t mean I can’t like it, right?), fitness, photography, Polish, Italian and some Brazilian food , travelling, various creative activities—oh, and a recent interest in calligraphy! Certainly, I could find a few other things that I enjoy if I thought about it for a moment, but the point is that topics that reveal valuable and interesting facts about the power of the human mind and brain are what I love most.

I’ve completed various courses in the UK (TEFL, admin, English) and two degrees (International Business English and Psychology), as well as starting a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology, and yet even though my knowledge has expanded I seem to have more questions than I’ve ever had before:

We know what can make us better, healthier, more productive or successful and yet most of us don’t follow the right advice or do the right things, even though we know how enormous and fantastic the benefits are! Why is that?

Why do we get so addicted to social media and check our phones constantly?

Why do we get depressed when we compare our lives with those of the perfect people in their perfect, filtered pictures in magazines and on social media, even though we know that the online world is so fake?

Why do we pursue money so much and want this one thing in our lives so badly if we know that real happiness means either spending quality time with people who are close to our heart or filling our life with passion and interests that we enjoy most?

Why we are so scared of trying out new ideas, making decisions and taking risks in an attempt to make our life better?

And why is it so difficult to believe in yourself and follow your dreams, and stay motivated? Why is it so easy to fail and give up on things that you enjoy and love?

Human nature is amazing and so imperfect at the same time…but apparently that’s okay because perfection is an enemy of good, as Voltaire used to say. We ought not to be perfect but it’s fascinating for me why we don’t live our lives more the way we want to and less the way other people and society want us to live. Why if we can improve our well-being we… do something else. Why do we focus so much and waste our time on various unimportant things? Why is it so difficult to simply stop for a moment to think through our life, our values, our ideas and plans?

We have only ONE precious and significant life and it doesn’t matter if you are, or seem to be, too old or too young for something. People mock me sometimes because I’m passionate about studying. If they can’t find a reason to make fun of someone else then they try anything, don’t they? “You are weird. What do you mean you prefer a book to a movie?”; “It’s Saturday night. I hope you are NOT studying or reading right now! Don’t be crazy!”; “Looking at the number of courses you’ve done you should be at least a CEO at some big company right now. Are you? See, your love for studying isn’t worth your time”…

There are many reasons why I enjoy learning new things and bettering myself in various disciplines every single day. The explanation “Because I really enjoy it” should be more than enough. Days without reading, learning new skills, or spending time on some creative tasks make me a bit frustrated. It feels like I’ve lost a day. And lost time never goes back. It can’t be regained, reused or retrieved in anyway. That’s why it doesn’t matter how crazy it sounds but I try to get up as early as I can or go to sleep later than everyone else in the house just to find a little bit of time for things that I enjoy. I prefer not to go out so often and waste time on meaningless chats but to use my time the best way I can, not just for work, sleeping, eating, cooking, cleaning or shopping, but also for things that I’m passionate about. Life tastes so much better then; it gives me so much happiness and is more meaningful.